Chris Lofton’s Deep Secret to Success

By: Cindy Ferguson

Chris Lofton was very fortunate unlike many others who don’t have the opportunity to beat the odds and he now feels more than overwhelmed with his unstoppable success.
In the beginning of his career things did not look very promising; but Tennessee took him in and he was the man that helped the Vols get back in play and hand by hand; both he and his team headed towards success, while no one knew what he was going thru.

The 22-year-old and 200 pound guard guided his team to a 31 game school record this past season and were placed at the top spot of the polls for the first time in history making their second straight Sweet 16 appearance.

Although, the 6 foot 2 youngster had much success while wearing his number 5 jersey, his biggest and greatest defeat was off the courts. Lofton was diagnosed with cancer at the beginning of 2006; he had a cancerous tumor removed during a secret surgery from one of his testicles on March 28, 2007.

The cancer was unbelievably discovered after he was chosen randomly after the first round win over Long Beach State to submit an NCAA mandatory drug test that doesn’t even test for anything like that; reason why people now refer to it as the miracle test because if he had not been chosen he might not have lived to tell the tale.

Unfortunately; the test came back positive after having blood work and an ultra sound done but the Tennessee officials were not notified until the day after the Ohio State game.

Lofton was very good at preventing other teams from reaching their goals with his patented step back 3 pointers; but he was now about to face the fight of his life and the question was if he was going to be able to stop the cancer.

Like many men, he is not one to get tear eyed in front of people but admitted that he cried more this past year than he has in his entire life. For many people it was a shock when they found out that he went thru this painful and scary situation with hardly anyone knowing.

The diagnosis, surgery, radiation, treatments, recovery and emotional distress was all kept undercover to comply his wishes. Lofton is known as a very reserved person and he didn’t want excuses from or about anyone.

It is an immense suffering to handle and his passion for the sport and love for the team was what made him not want his news to be exposed. He felt it would distract the team and make things change and he did not want that to happen. Even many of his family members had no clue of what he was going on.

His motivation came from his mother and father and his faithfulness towards the team. Even though some days he felt that he could not move his body he just kept going. Lofton has finished with his treatment and is now cancer-free although he will have to be monitored for the rest of his life.

Besides the fact of having defeating such a critical condition, the most amazing thing is how he dealt with it and how he managed to continue to play and not let his personal problems get in the way of his dreams. Lofton is now more determined than ever to pursue a professional basketball career and if cancer didn’t stop him I’m sure nothing will.

Quoted from www.blog.instantactionsports.com